


This Too Shall Pass

by Nakama13



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Marauders' Era, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-07 23:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6830587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nakama13/pseuds/Nakama13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus always hated the stillness of the hospital wing. It was too quiet, too large, too dark, too empty. </p>
<p>But, sometimes, even its cavernous halls could be warm, given the right company.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Too Shall Pass

Remus sat on the uncomfortably stiff infirmary bed, clutching his book with barely healed hands. His half mended bones and the now shallow cuts along skin didn't afford him much movement and with his wand tucked safely away in the drawer of the bedside table he had to depend on the waning moon’s light to illuminate the words on the page. Ironic really, that the thing that had caused all the damage to begin with was the same thing he had to rely on as to not lose his mind in the cavernous hospital wing.

He really should be resting but the pain potions Madame Pomfrey had given him, though potent, had done little to sooth his aching body. So awake he was, with only his book and the ever-present moon for company.  
He remembered the words his father used to repeat to him as a small boy during nights just like this, “This too shall pass.”  
He scoffed, knowing it would not.

He knew his attempts to immerse himself into the imaginary world of greasers and socs were futile after his third try at reading the same passage had failed. The words just weren't sinking in. It wasn’t so much a problem of illumination as it was a problem of silence.

Remus, though a quiet boy by nature, knew silence like an old friend. While once inseparable, age and time has led him into more boisterous company and when reunited with said old friend, only a distinct note of discomfort remains. Remus didn’t like the quiet as much as he had once thought, not, at least, after meeting The Marauders.

He tried in vain to push all thoughts of his friend away; but just as they were in real life, one did not simply push aside The Marauders.  
‘You’re getting too attached, Remus,’ he had thought to himself  
‘You mustn’t get too dependent on them. What will you do when they leave?’  
But they never did.  
Not when they saw his grotesque scarred 11-year-old body.  
Not when he tried to ignore and push them away.  
Not even during second year when they had inevitably found out about his furry little problem.

He remembers the day well, after returning from his latest hospital stay he was cornered by three small 12 year olds in their spacious dorm. Though they had spoken to him in soft tones, Remus couldn’t help the tears welling up in his eyes at the prospect of losing the first friends he had ever managed to make. However, much to his surprise, his tearful admission was met in ways he was told never to expect.  
“I wouldn’t have thought you had it in you, mate,” James had said with his ear-splitting grin and mischievous eyes.  
“At least you’re not… Snivellus?” Peter had chimed in uncertainly, looking at the two taller boys for affirmation.  
“Wicked,” Sirius had whispered almost reverently, his grey eyes seeming to take Remus in a new light, making the mousy boy blush from ear to toe.

 

He set aside his book, resigning himself to his prescribed bed rest. Every shift he made sent a new surge of pain through his lanky body.  
“This too shall pass,” Remus repeated bitterly to himself, wincing with every creak of the bed.

Just as he was about to close his eyes a soft click caught his ear. Agonizingly, he turned around and watched in fascination as the heavy doors of the hospital wings slowly swung open. On the other side stood no one.

Had he been less informed he would’ve thought it to be a ghost, but since his formal education in the wizarding school began, he grew to learn that ghosts were much more considerate of others’ sleeping patterns. That, as well as the fact that ghosts had no use for doors, only led to one other conclusion.

“What are you doing here, Padfoot?” he whispered at the direction of the slowly closing door. Footsteps approached his bed and, seemingly out of nowhere, the disembodied head his friend appeared.

“Prongs keeps moaning about Evans in his sleep, as if I didn’t get enough of that in the waking world, and Wormy snores like the Hogwarts Express.”

“That’s any other night normal night, Pads,”

Pulling off the rest of James’ cloak the dark haired boy smirked, “Wrong Moony, a normal night would mean having you there to share in my agony.”

Remus’ laugh was instantly followed by a pained hiss and Sirius was at his side in a blink.  
Rubbing his shoulders soothingly, his bright grey eyes shone in the darkness, “And I couldn’t let you have this god-sent silence all to yourself, could I? C’mon mate, learn to share!”  
He gently nudged the slighter, bedridden boy aside, “Alright then, move over.”

Sirius situated himself under the covers, right beside his friend, and shut his eyes.  
Remus’ eyes danced with barely concealed amusement as he playfully kicked the dark haired boys leg, “Get your own bed, you mutt!”

His friend only dug himself deeper into the small mattress, “Bugger off, mate! Some of us are trying to sleep, besides everyone knows Pomfrey always gives you the best bed. She’s probably sweet on you.”

The werewolf laughed unrestrained, this time without pain. Maybe the potion was working after all?  
Sirius gave no reply but he could see the flash of white as the long-haired boy grinned at his own success.  
Remus smiled at his friend, thankful for his presence. He calmed the butterflies at the pit of his stomach, hardly an unfamiliar sensation these days but still something he’d rather push aside for a later date.

Right then, in that moment, as he laid his head against the lumpy pillow and his back against the stiff mattress, the presence of the other boys’ warm body made the bed more comfortable than any he had ever lain in before.

They fell asleep under the watchful eye of the moon, dreaming of impossible infinities, and throughout the castle the clocks were ticking. In that moment in time, they were at peace; ignorant to the winds whispering through the ancient stonewalls of their ageless school,

_This too shall pass._

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone's wondering about the book Remus was reading it was The Outsiders.


End file.
